RTA targets recurrent accident spots
RTA develops mechanism for identifying, analyzing and fixing recurrent accident spots
The Roads and Transport Authority’s (RTA) Licensing Agency is taking the electronic route to identifying, analysing and coping with recurrent accident spots in Dubai. The new system provides specialists with required data, information and tools necessary for taking appropriate decisions in dealing with traffic safety issues.
Engineer Maitha bin Udai, CEO of RTA Licensing Agency, said: “The Traffic and Roads Agency is taking a host of precautionary and technical measures and preventive engineering procedures based on technical reports and numerical statistics from monitoring and tracking the sites of recurrent traffic accidents to take remedial actions and ensure their number will not rise in the forthcoming years. This can be done through auditing traffic safety procedures adopted in new road projects during the design, construction phases as well as after project completion in keeping with RTA’s vision of providing Safe and Smooth Transport for All.
Specialist engineers of RTA use criteria like areas with the highest frequency of causalities, number of traffic accidents recorded over three successive years to study and assess the data during their site visits. The engineers then identify the required engineering procedures capable of managing with the site based on technical standards and globally accepted scientific approaches. Such measures will be applied to the database and statistics of traffic accidents and then entered into the GIS of the RTA.
RTA studied the practices of 15 countries in the field of identifying and treating areas witnessing recurrent accidents, namely Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Britain, USA, Portugal, Singapore, Scandinavian countries, Hungary, Netherlands and Sweden.
“The project comprises three phases two of which have been completed; the first one included studying the present mechanism in handling these spots, and the other included studying the best global practices in this field in preparation for the third phase which included preparation of a comprehensive system customised for the Emirate of Dubai in a form of an electronic programme that helps identify the best decision-making mechanism for arriving at the remedies for recurrent accident spots together with the procedures required for addressing them,” Engineer Maitha bin Udai.
